United Methodist Constitution

1
United Methodist Constitution

• Proposed Amendments
• San Antonio District Conference
• May 17, 2009 Mark A. Nerio

2
United Methodist Constitution

• Can it be changed?
• General Conference
• Required 2/3 vote of delegates
• Annual Conference
• 2/3 affirmative vote of all AC members in the US,
  Asia, Africa Europe (n134 total 62 in US)
• Debate but not change vote FOR or AGAINST
• Vote is scheduled Saturday, June 6 900 a.m. at
  Annual Conference

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32 Amendments (10 issues)

1. Global Nature of the Church n23
2. Church Membership n1
3. Voting Eligibility Clergy n1
4. Ethics Policy for Boards n1
5. Gen. Conf. Representation Newly Established Conf.
   n1
6. Gender Protection n1
7. Minimum Members in Juris. N1
8. AC Delegate Eligibility n1
9. Baltimore-Wash AC n1
10. Laity Inclusion on Committee on Investigation n1

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Global Nature of the Church n23

• 2005-2008 study by the Council of Bishops' Task
  Force on the Global Nature of the Church
• Name of conferences outside the United States be
  changed from "Central" to "Regional
• Name change will not make the United States into
  a separate regional conference

5
Grant church membership to all who take vows no.1

• would clarify that all people are eligible to
  attend worship services and receive the
  sacraments, and upon baptism, be admitted as
  baptized members by striking the words "without
  regard to race, color, national origin, status or
  other economic condition
• Review of Bishop's Decisions of law in the
  Virginia Annual Conference Related to the
  Authority of a Pastor under 214 and 225 of the
  2004 Discipline to Exercise Judgment in
  Determining Who May Be Received into Membership
  in the Local Church.
• The 2004 Discipline invests discretion in the
  pastor-in-charge to make the determination of a
  persons readiness to affirm the vows of
  membership ( 217). Paragraphs 214 and 225 are
  permissive and do not mandate receipt into
  membership of all persons regardless of their
  willingness to affirm membership vows.

6
Allow all clergy members of annual to vote to
elect clergy delegates 19

• Only ordained elders and deacons in full
  connection now vote
• would extend voting privileges to associate
  members, provisional members who have completed
  all of their educational requirements and local
  pastors who have completed course of study or a
  Master of Divinity degree and have served a
  minimum of two consecutive years under
  appointment immediately preceding the election.

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Other Amendments

• Amendment 2 would require all United Methodist
  organizations to adopt ethics and
  conflict-of-interest policies for board members
  and employees.
• Amendment 6 addresses an issue that followed the
  2004 admission of the Cote d'Ivoire Annual
  Conference to the denomination. The conference
  has more than 500,000 members, but had only two
  delegates to the 2008 General Conference. The
  amendment says that newly established conferences
  could be represented on a non-proportional basis
  for two quadrennia.

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Other Amendments

• Amendment 8 adds the word "gender" to paragraphs
  declaring the power of General Conference to
  govern membership of agencies. They would allow
  the conference to fix conditions, privileges and
  duties of church membership, which shall, in
  every case, be without reference to race, gender
  or status.
• Amendment 9 would ensure that every
  jurisdictional conference has at least 100
  members

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Other Amendments

• Amendment 15 would reduce from two to one the
  number of years a lay person must be a church
  member before being elected a member of an annual
  conference. It also eliminates a requirement that
  they be active participants in church.
• Amendment 17 would reinstate legislation adopted
  by the 2004 General Conference and subsequently
  declared unconstitutional by the Judicial Council
  allowing laity on the committee on investigation
  to vote on matters of ordination, character, and
  conference relations of clergy.

10
Other Amendments

• Amendment 22 would recognize Bermuda
  congregations as part of the Baltimore-Washington
  Annual Conference.

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Additional Information

• Worldwide church
• http//www.worldwideumc.org/ (report of the Task
  Force on the Global Nature of the Church)
• SWTx AC site http//www.umcswtx.org/
• West Ohio AC http//www.2009annualconference.org/
  content/proposed-constitutional-amendments